Format for My Coin Images - FINALLY

I FINALLY got the format the way I want it.
I still have a bit of work to do on the lighting, but otherwise I'm happy.
I changed to a black background as suggested in here.
I separated the images as also suggested in here.
And I corrected (most) of coin edge problem.

Here 'tis:

 

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Lovely looking coin and a great picture :thumb:

 

Nice setup! Great looking image there......

Smaugy

 

Is a black background the best contrasting color for a copper coin? Should you change the background color to better bring out the color of the metal?

 

It looks nice. There is still a bit of a ragged edge around the coins but otherwise looks fine. How do you get the color border that matches your coin?

 

Yeh, still a bit ragged around the edges, but unless I find something in my Paint Shop Pro, that's the way it will be.
It is definitely better than it was. Following someone's suggestion the last thing I do is the resize down to fit the screen. That took care of 80% of the problem.

I wanted four colors for the outer border, one for each of the four metals.
Gold and silver were easy since there's already a hex code for them.
For copper and nickel I scanned the coins and queried the images for the color code. So basically those two colors came right from the source.

Here's the four hex codes I'm using:
Gold - F5BE64
Silver - C0C0C0
Nickel - 808080
Copper - AF9164

 

Kanga - great pics! I would still separate the two sides a little more, but that's just me.

 

realllly nice pics, I'm still trying to get mine just right.

 

Kanga,

I will download PSP and figure it out for you. Like I said before, I use Photoshop, but I know it has to be possible in PSP.

One suggestion, and maybe you are already using this... but if you are going to be cataloging a lot of files, you might want to get a white balance card (something similiar to this here). Attached image w/o jaggies.

Let me know what version you are using when you get a chance so I can figure it out for ya.

 

I've got PSP-7. And if while looking you can figure out how to circular crop, that would be a BIG help.

Another "situation" that I know affects the end result (but I don't know by how much) is that my images are all .jpg once I start working on them.
I know there is some data loss because of "pixel averaging"(?).
Plus I convert from raw images at about 380 dpi to working images at 150 dpi. This is mostly for file size considerations.

Since I'm currently using my Coolpix 995, correcting "white balance" is not an option.
If I grab my wife's Nikon D300 and use my Nikkor 60mm micro lens, then all sorts of capabilities become available. But the learning curve really skys too.

 

I will take a look shortly for you.

You can always manually correct white balance digitally, even if you are not shooting in RAW mode:

 

Here is how you do it in PSP-7:

1) Select 'Magic Wand' tool (it's on the left, 7th or 8th down).
2) Click on the black area.
3) Go to Selections drop down, then modify->EXPAND (not contract) and enter somewhere between 1 and 3, 2 works well at this file size. Click OK.
5) Go to Selections drop down again, then modify, then Feather, and choose a number, 1 will work well with this file size. Click OK.
6) Hit DELete on keyboard.

Only problem is the slab info is going to get edited too. In Photoshop you normally would choose rectangular marquee and deselect that area, but I dont know how in PSP.

To make a circular maquee, click on the regular 'selection' button (left toolbar, 5th down), and on the floating window 'Tool Options - Selection', hover over that, then change the selection to 'circular'. To expand circle from cursor, hold down ALT while making the selection.

Hope this helps,

Jesh

 

Saving as JPEG is fine as long as you are not saving under 85% quality, the eye can't recognize the differences usually. The images look great that you took!

If you want to save them for yourself use a lossless file format like TIFF.

Jesh

 

Kanga did you give this a try?

 

Not yet.
I looked at some more of my images and they are too washed out.
Lifeless. Lacking the detail that the real item has.
Before I put anymore time into editing, I need to get my lighting straightened out.

 

What about marquees and so on

 

To give you an idea of what I'm talking about with regard to my lighting, look at these two images.





This coin is slabbed PCGS XF-40.
My lighting makes it look dull, washed out and lifeless.
And definitely NOT XF-40.
And not like the coin in-hand.
That has to be corrected.

 

What are you using for lighting?

 

Two "white light" Ott-Lites.
One from about 11 and the other from about 3.
Fairly low angle (about 30 degrees up).
Possibly too close to the coin.

When I used to use only one I would get good fidelity BUT the slab insert would create a shadow along part of the rim.
Here's a good example:



That why I'm now using a second light.
I want to eliminate that shadow.

 

Trickier then I thought. I'm not using the right lighting though and wanted to do a 'test run', but I can see how this can be tough to do correctly.

This is with a Canon EOS 40D, Speedlite 580EXII, and Canon 100mm Macro Lens. Same coin, lighting a little different. Notice the red on top of bottom coin. Reflecting off case which is getting it from the top of the desk. Guess I am going to read more of the books on photographing coins. Near the top of the coin you can also see a scratch that is on the case, with the proper lighting that can be removed

How are things progressing for you, Kanga?